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Bell B20E ventures into new territory

Published: 7th March 2017

Source: Bell Equipment

Articulated Dump Truck (ADT) specialist, Bell Equipment, has decided to extend its global product offering with a Tier 4 version of its 20-ton truck, the B20E 6x6. This model offers customers the benefit of safety and performance enhancing technologies developed by Bell over the past thirty years and further cements the ADT manufacturer as the global leader in the off road haulage market.

"This is a niche market that currently offers customers very little choice," explains Bell Equipment Product Marketing Manager, Tristan du Pisanie. "We've been a strong competitor in the 20-ton market in Southern African for many years with our B18 and B20 trucks, so it seemed a natural progression to now offer this size of truck to the rest of the world. Apart from offering a quality product, it also gives our customers an opportunity to standardize their fleet with one supplier for ease of support."

Based on the company's B25E and B30E trucks, the B20E 6x6 has a well proven platform that has been put to the test in high production environments across the globe. "Through sharing these genetics we are confident that the B20E 6x6 will be a very durable product for our customers," says du Pisanie.

The truck is a true 6x6 with a driven rear axle unlike its 6x4 African counterpart. It is powered by the Tier 4 final/Stage 4 emissions compliant Mercedes Benz OM934LA (MTU 4R1000) and fitted with wet brakes to offer sealed protection against deep mud. Customers also have the choice between standard 20.5R25 earthmoving tires or low profile, extra wide 800/45 R30.5 tires that provide significantly reduced ground pressure and market-leading flotation in very muddy or soft sandy underfoot conditions.

Like the rest of the Bell E-series ADT range, the B20E 6x6 is designed for ease of operation and high production having a very similar power-to-weight ratio to the other Bell ADTs which gives the optimum balance between performance and fuel consumption. For example the B20E ADT has a power-to-weight ratio of 6hp/ton, which is in line with that of the B30E.

According to du Pisanie there is a definite need for this size of truck. "For example, on small to medium scale housing developments and golf course projects a 25-ton or 30-ton truck is just too big. This type of work calls for a smaller, more nimble truck with 6x6 that can also cope with the soft ground conditions found in a lot of these applications.

The B20E boasts an impressive turning circle of 12ft 1in, with 800 wide tires, and ground pressure as low as 95kPa with the wider tires, using the 3 inch sinkage method. A load over height of 8ft 4in also allows the bin to be filled by a number of different loading tools.

Rental companies could also benefit greatly from having a truck of this size in their fleet. The ability for this truck to be able to perform so well in such a high number of varied applications means that these companies are well positioned to satisfy whatever their customers’ needs are. This bodes well for high fleet utilization and great return on investment.

"At Hillhead last year we had the concept on display and received a number of firm orders. We have since been met with a lot of interest from the United Kingdom and Europe in terms of potential orders and requests for demos and we will now be talking to customers at ConExpo to gauge the interest in the US," says du Pisanie.